Whilst those of us fortunate enough to live in civilized countries may consider such punishments overly harsh, at least they punish the perpetrator. Many punishments in countries we consider civilized are now targeting the owner of the car rather than the perpetrator.

In Perth, Australia, we recently saw a US$200,000 Lamborghini impounded although it was being driven by a mechanic who had just serviced the vehicle – the Doctor who owned the car had no knowledge of what was being done with his vehicle but he still paid the price, losing the use of his vehicle for some period of time before it was returned.

Similarly, when F1 driver Lewis Hamilton was leaving the Albert Park circuit after practice for the first race of the 2010 season, he did a burn-out in his AMG Mercedes courtesy car and got that impounded. In most countries in the world, he'd have been cheered by the constabulary, but in the Australian State of Victoria, where the powers-that-be have declared war on "hoons", the wallopers were forced to book him.

Some jurisdictions give the cars back after impounding them for a period of time, though in Holland, the car can be confiscated permanently and that's just what happened a few weeks back when a 20-year old who had borrowed his dad's car, was booked for doing double the speed limit – 160 kmh in an 80 kmh zone.

That was just far enough over the limit to permanently lose the vehicle he was driving, and win him the world record for the most expensive speeding ticket in history, even if it was effectively being paid by his father – he was driving pop's Bugatti Veyron worth EUR1.8 million!

As far as we can determine, the car is gone for good, and dad is no doubt having a few stern words with junior, despite dad's long term association with motorsport.

The owner of the Veyron, with whom we thoroughly sympathize, is none other than technology entrepreneur Michel Perridon, the founder and CEO of Trust International, manufacturers of some of Europe's best selling computer peripherals.

Michel is a long time sponsor of motorsport and only last year Trust International was sponsoring the Red Bull Formula One team. That's F1 ace Mark Webber, Red Bull F1 Team Leader Christian Horner and wunderkind Sebastien Vettel holding a Trust International Red Bull computer mouse in the photo.

Truly, we do feel sorry for Michel – he wasn't even driving the car, yet if there's an upside, and we think there might be, it's that we think he can legitimately claim the record for himself - after all, he paid the fine. Whatsmore, he isn't going to lose the record soon. If we adjust the world's-most-expensive-speeding-ticket going forward to take inflation into account, it's gonna be a loooong time before he relinquishes the title.

The previously most expensive speeding ticket on record was handed out earlier this year in Switzerland where speeding fines are calculated on your net worth, as opposed to flat penalties which do not seriously deter the mega-wealthy.

The record holder was a diplomat from the republic of Guinea-Bissau caught driving a Ferrari Testarossa at 137 kmh (85 mph) through a village in Eastern Switzerland. The penalty was calculated as a percentage of the motorist’s wealth – assessed to be 24 million Swiss francs by the court – and the seriousness of the offense, his record and… the speeding ticket totalled nearly US$290,000 – a King's ransom for most, but a trifle in comparison to Perridon's fine – and he wasn't driving the car. In this case the perpetrator claimed diplomatic immunity for his offense, it only succeeded in saving him from being named, not from being fined.

The previous world record ticket was set in 2002, held by Jussi Salonoja, the then 27-year-old heir to a northern European meatpacking empire. In Finland, the fines for speeding offenses are levied against the annual income of the driver. Salonoja earned US$11.5 million in 2002, which resulted in a fine of around US$200,000.

So our suggestion is that Michel is now the rightful record holder, and despite the gravity of the offense, it wasn't his fault, so there's a degree of latitude that should be afforded him in how he wears his crown.

Trust appears to have dropped its Red Bull F1 sponsorship for 2010 (before this incident), but in winning the title of “the world's most expensive speeding ticket” perhaps Trust could issue a commemorative mouse so the unfortunate Perridon might be able to recoup his losses. And perhaps it should carry the inscription, "the road is not a racetrack."

And so far as the prosecution of innocent parties, let's make sure that the person who commits the crime serves the time. It was not the Lamborghini-owning Perth Doctor or Michel Perridon who should be paying the price, but the people behind the wheel.

More than a million lives are lost each year on public roads across the globe - in the words of Adam Smith, "mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent."

Wow! Speeding tickets based on your net worth!! I\'d never get out of the car. Given that my net worth is less than zero, I rarely have to anyway. I wonder if I can get the state of Arizona to pay ME everytime the camera clicks me for a ticket on the freeway? They pay for Illegals to eat and stay, why not?

MJRydsFast

Exactly the sort of communistic garbage the leftists keep trying to get enacted in the USA, especially after the Internal Revenue Service\'s big \"business\" of confiscations of private property got reigned in.

Facebook User

What utter rubbish; these are shams, excuses for governments to line their pockets in the name of \"safety\".

Schmerdtz

Government revenue raising, what else could it be

Rosscoe

This made me smile.People who recklessley endanger the lives of others for \\'kicks\\' should be punished accordingly. If I came up to you wildly swinging a broadsword towards your head, you would rightly expect the police to confiscate it. Why is it different if I drive through your village at dangerous speeds?

Getting fined for speeding in certian, built up areas, is fair enough, the autobarns in germany have the right idea. What pisses me off the most however is the fact its mostly illegal to use an alternative fuel to desil, just because the government wants to line its pockets with the rediculous taxs....

marshall91t

So if you speed and kill someone, you should be tied to a post and a relative of the dead person allowed to drive a car into you. Fair?

Facebook User

So if you lose it permanently where does it end up?

Craig Jennings

fexix: You missed the point of this article completely. Innocent people are being punished. The punishments do not fit the crime. Government benefits under the guise of protection. This is not justice but oppression. You must be a government employee.

voluntaryist

And here we go again with the Speeding = overspeed stupidity!
People OPEN your eyes... this is PURE TAX REVENUE and has NOTHING to do with safety!
It\'s unsafe to go SPEEDING for your knowledge, car status and road / weather conditions!
Breaking the local speed limits has nothing of unsafe... if you know what you\'re doing.!
Do you honestly believe that the bugaty veiron couldn\'t stop faster doing 180Km/h than a Punto doing 80km/h??? C\'mon! Get real. Cops have been transformed into Taxation tools, rather than public safety ones. Sad... just plain sad.

Facebook User

"As far as we can determine, the car is gone for good, and dad is no doubt having a few stern words with junior, despite dad's long term association with motorsport."